We Are Change Portland INTERVIEW PPD ABOUT THE OCCUPY PORTLAND SIT IN

http://www.wearechange.org/?p=9883

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/10/03/1022514/-Forbes-Magazine:-Why-Occupy-Wall-Street-is-More-than-Just-a-Protest-Hootenanny (watch the first video, please) ...cal

http://www.livestream.com/globalrevolution

http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2011/10/03/why-occupy-wall-street-is-more-than-just-a-protest/
Excerpt:
hington

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10/03/2011 @ 11:15AM |7,731 views

Why Occupy Wall Street is More than Just a Protest

E.D. Kain, ContributorSure. Unions are a big one. The public university is another. Indeed, the concept of public institutions themselves are on the defense, from libraries to p [...]

aaroneousThe reason there SEEMS to be no overarching principle is because the focus remains (as always) entirely too narrow. If the issues appear too diffuse, it is [...]

E.D. Kain, ContributorI do expect it to grow. I was skeptical at first, but it’s already growing and who knows how big it will become?

michaelsondergardThank you Mr. Kain. I can understand why the left wants unions revived, but I don’t understand why you think a “public university” should be classified as [...]

E.D. Kain, ContributorAny public, tax-funded non-military institution is threatened by the current manifestation of the right. So naturally the universities will be bastions for [...]

saysaysomethingI think the movement will coalesce into a demand for huge health care reform, maybe even single payer. So many of the signs at the events around the countr [...]

E.D. Kain, ContributorThis is a smart point, and I tend to agree. There is a real need for universal healthcare in this country as I’ve mentioned in a couple other recent posts. [...]

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Occupy Wall Street protesters work on laptops in Zuccotti Park in New York October 1, 2011.

As Occupy Wall Street enters its third week, some observers might argue that the movement remains feckless. Detractors, both sympathetic and otherwise, continue to argue that the movement lacks a coherent vision for change.
Despite swelling crowds and alarming numbers of protesters arrested by NYPD officers, the protests have still failed to materialize into something with clear, precise aims.
Then again, perhaps clear aims and a coherent vision for change aren’t really the point. As Ned Resnikoff explains, sometimes simply claiming a space can be revolutionary. The Occupy Wall Street movement is “something entirely different and much more important” than merely a protest, Resnikoff writes. It is a “public, counter-establishment communal space.”

By a communal space, I mean a physical area where members of a community can interact with one another freely and fulfill some kind of common social aim. Examples include churches, union halls, and various kinds of social clubs. These spaces are the soil from which successful movements grow: not only do they mobilize people around a shared set of values, but they also make them available for action predicated on those values. That is why the support of black churches proved indispensable to the civil rights movement. It is also why Chicago’s radical left was able to so effectively organize in the late nineteenth century: socialists and anarchists constructed a vast network of communal spaces, from Socialist Sunday Schools to so-called red saloons. Sure, Chicago leftists organized speeches and protests; but they also organized informal social gatherings, and even dances.
Modern communal spaces have either been co-opted by establishment forces or decimated. Fewer workers in labor unions, to name one important example, means fewer workers talking to one another at the union hall. Plus, outside of the workplace, more and more Americans are bowling alone. Fewer of us attend religious services, and the core that do are more likely to be politically conservative. In place of the old communities these spaces held together, we have autonomous, atomistic individuals. Those needs that used to be met through communal activities — needs like entertainment and spiritual fulfillment — are now more often met through solitary rituals of consumption.

Ned goes on to argue that online activism has been a disappointment, by and large, failing to generate dissent and serving rather as an amplification of protest. The Occupy Wall Street movement, on the other hand, is something of a hybrid of online and real, physical-space dissent. Counter-establishment communal spaces, he writes, “are so thoroughly marginalized that even instituting one has become a radical act.”
Like Resnikoff, I think that even just organizing and maintaining these protests is worthy of praise. The manifestation of #OccupyWallStreet as more than just a hashtag is a real achievement. From incoherence comes relevancy, however messy or disorganized that process may be.

But I also think that in order for this communal space to become something more, to really achieve movement status, the activists will need to establish more than just a permanent outpost. Somehow these activists need to translate the protests and the communal spaces into actual institutions.
Furthermore, the real import of these protests is not the protests themselves but the deep need for solutions outside of the political duopoly and the realm of government. Unions used to be a real bastion of political activism. Now that unions are on the decline, there are few populist outlets remaining. For regular people to have a voice, they need strength in numbers.
The Tea Party understands this all too well. Until recently however, the left had forgotten the importance of solidarity.
Perhaps Wisconsin should be seen as a precursor to Occupy Wall Street, and perhaps Occupy Wall Street is only the beginning. Progressives need to keep looking to civil society to affect change. They need to rebuild the crumbled institutions of the left.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/ominous-video-hackers-say-they-will-erase-nyse-from-internet/
Excerpt:

US Ominous Video: Hackers Say They Will ‘Erase’ NYSE From Internet

Posted on October 4, 2011 at 11:30am by Liz Klimas
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Ever since Occupy Wall Street protests began mid-September, the hacker collective Anonymous has been posting its support for protestors and threats against those like the New York Police Department, on its YouTube channel. In its most recent post over the weekend, Anonymous threatens to “erase” the New York Stock Exchange from the Internet.

Anonymous includes instruction on its video for people to "JOIN THE RAID".

When? October 10. Watch the group’s video threat — a message to the media — of a day that will “never, ever be forgot:”

As PC Magazine reports the threat, it notes that Anonymous does not explain how it will take down NYSE from the Internet. Comments on the video, however, reveal some theories:

[...] some speculated that Anonymous was planning a Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attack on the public-facing NYSE.com website, similar to DDoS attacks the group has used to take down websites in the past.
Others felt that would only be a minor setback for the NYSE and guessed that Anonymous was planning a larger attack, perhaps even an attempt to actually disable trading on the exchange.

http://www.pressherald.com/news/nationworld/wall-street-sit-in-takes-bull-by-the-horns_2011-10-01.html
Excerpt:

On its website, Occupy Wall Street describes itself as a "leaderless resistance movement" drawn from people of all backgrounds and political persuasions.

"The one thing we all have in common is that we are the 99 percent that will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the 1 percent," the website says. The posters in Zuccotti Park speak to the lack of a narrow platform: "End financial aid to Israel"; "End greed, end poverty, end war"; "No death penalty"; "Tired of racism."

http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/05/politics/occupy-wall-street/
Excerpt:

Unions endorse, will join Occupy Wall Street protests

By Jason Kessler and Michael Martinez, CNN

updated 10:23 AM EST, Wed October 5, 2011

Protesters have been camping out at New York's Zuccotti Park for more than two weeks.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

NEW: Social media spurs similar protests in Boston, other cities
NEW: Massachusetts Nurses Association will join Boston protesters
Labor leaders say the Occupy Wall Street protesters raise issues they support
Protesters are camping out in a park in New York's Financial District

New York (CNN) -- As the Occupy Wall Street protesters rally for a third week, social media sites such as Twitter seem to be spurring similar protests in other cities.
A Twitter account called Occupy Boston mentions a citywide college walkout there Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the Massachusetts Nurses Association says hundreds of the city's nurses will rally with the Occupy Boston protesters on Wednesday. The association says the protest will be part of the opening day activities for a national nursing convention in Boston.

iReport: Send us your photos, videos
In New York, several unions endorsed the Occupy Wall Street movement and plan to join the protesters' street theater Wednesday, labor leaders said.

http://occupyboston.com/
Excerpts:

1) The Massachusetts Teachers Association Supports Occupy

Posted on October 5, 2011 by nadeemtron

Big news! The Massachusetts Teachers Associations has posted a wonderful post on their website (http://www.massteacher.org) expressing their solidarity with Occupy Boston and similiar protests. Laura Barrett of the Division of Communications at the MTA visited Dewey on Tuesday afternoon to share the news.
Read the article here: http://massteacher.org/news/archive/2011/10-05.aspx
2)
On Facebook, students are circulating an invitation to their friends, which includes the following description of Occupy Boston:

“What I can tell you is that attending an #OccupyBoston event is the only way you will ever have a shot at understanding what the movement is really about. I can tell you that the individuals involved with #OccupyBoston and #OccupyWallStreet are unbelievably passionate, organized, determined people of every age, race, ethnicity, nationality, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, class, and spiritual affiliation who are working unwaveringly in the spirit of democracy. I can tell you that members of the #Occupy movement’s General Assemblies are effectively drawing the nation’s attention to a number of alarming economic, political, and social issues that negatively impact each and every one of us. Finally, I can assure you that this movement will be what its participants make of it, and for that reason, I implore you to visit Dewey Square for a General Assembly and to have a say in what #OccupyBoston becomes. I cannot contain my excitement when I think of the potential a movement like this has to change the United States and the world for the better, and I know that the participation and support of every single student and recent graduate in the Greater Boston area will help it achieve its incredible promise.”

We are so proud of our students. Boston is America’s college town – meaning one third of people who live in the greater Boston area are under 30, and 60% of those are students.
For more information on how your school can get involved, please email studentsoccupyboston@gmail.com or follow on Twitter @studentsoccupy

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2011/10/05/Boston-nurses-students-join-protests/UPI-40411317835042/
Excerpt:

Heavens Task Force

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Occupy Wall Street 10/5/11